All-American Muslim: Religion of Protest

When Obama listed his favorite shows, All-American Muslim didn’t make the cut. On Sunday at 10 o’clock the television set at the White House isn’t tuned to TLC, it’s tuned to Showtime for Homeland. Obama isn’t alone. Homeland has been picking up viewers, while All-American Muslim has been losing them.

Obama’s attitude shows the paradoxical attitude of liberals to All-American Muslim. They want to see a show like it exist, but they just don’t want to watch it. For week after week, Front Page Magazine has been the only site covering All-American Muslim. The media outlets that kicked into hysterical witch hunt mode last week after Lowe’s pulled its ads from the failing, viewer-deprived series never actually bothered to tune in to the show.

The liberal attitude toward All-American Muslim reveals something darker about their exploitation of Muslims. They are only truly interested in them when they can use them as a cudgel or as a badge of tolerance. After a single episode of All-American Muslim their tolerance was affirmed and they were free to go back to watching Homeland, a show that tries to marry the political incorrectness of Islamic terrorism and a politically correct insistence on exploring its ambiguities. It was only when Lowe’s was targeted for pulling its ads that they suddenly became interested in the show again; not the actual show, but the idea of the show as a “tolerance test.”

At the Washington Post an editorial suggests that “All-American Muslim fans” should invade Lowe’s with signs protesting against the home shopping giant. But how many of those fans are there? The series has fallen out of the Top 100 cable shows for two weeks running. It was the lowest-rated series even before that. But the editorial highlights the problem. Liberals are only interested in Muslims as a means of fighting a culture war against the bogeymen of American “intolerance.” All-American Muslim isn’t interesting to them except as a vehicle for another protest movement.

The left needs an “Other” to justify its war against American traditions and values. Muslims conveniently provide that “Other,” a role that they began to fill after September 11. Even as the left denounces the right for “Otherizing” Muslims and associating them with terrorism, it is the left that is truly guilty of it. If the attacks of September 11 had never taken place and the War on Terror had not followed, then the left would have as much interest in Muslims as they do in Hindus or Baha’i or any number of other world religions.

All-American Muslim has included the usual complaints about prejudice and discrimination, but not nearly enough of it to interest the left, which doesn’t want to hear a lot talk about the virtues of the hijab; they want to see men driving pickup trucks with confederate flags on them shouting at women wearing hijabs. They don’t really want to see a show about Muslims, any kind of Muslims, they want to see a show about how awful Americans are.

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. He is completing a book on the international challenges America faces in the 21st century.

randy

TLC should do on the pediphile catholic church.

voice_reason

Spell check.

DogWithoutSlippers

Randy is a fool!

crypticguise

Randy, were you born a religious anti-Catholic bigot or did you learn it from your slimey friends? Your spelling also "sucks".

Rob

Randy or Muhammad? I wonder. You write like Muhammad; you think like Muhammad; and you disrespect Catholic Church with 'catholic' sic. If a show sucks, Randy, it sucks. You should know what sucking is all about. Yes, there are pedophiles in the Catholic Church, like there are pedophiles in secular life and in other religions. But in Islam, wow, pedophilia is an accepted form of life, like Muhammad marrying 6 year old Aisha and consummating the marriage when she was at the ripe old age of 9. Don't preach against what you practice, Randy.

http://www.allamericanmuslim.com All American Muslim

What a twisted way to get Muhammad into this discussion and repeat the usual right wing lies about a religion. Do you even know any Muslim people, did you ever travel outside of the US and meet these people before learning to hate them so much?

guest

I learned all i need to know about muslim filth on 9/11

Mike

We know what muslims preach and practice AAM. It doesn't take much figuring. A bomb blows and its silence from the rest of the muslim population. Silence is being in agreeance. From what one could gather over the last few years is that muslims view dictators as bad and they view jihad suicide bombers as good. They think, "hey, lets oust this guy whos in control but lets teach our kids to hate the West because they're so much smarter and advanced than us and lets teach our kids to blow themselves up".

Wow. This is the most asinine article I have read in decades. The Freedom Center. You, mean, selective freedom. This is the essence of propaganda, except that it's up issued by people who make Tea Party leaders look like brain surgeons.

Go away. You ridicule yourself.

Daniel Greenfield

So you think forcing advertisers to advertise on a Muslim TV show is freedom?

http://robhoey127.blogspot.com/ RobH

I disagree, James. If you know anything about Islam, you'd know how repressive it is toward women and how hateful it is toward gay people. The article is anything but asinine–it's about how, in America, companies can choose who they wish to advertise with, or not. We call that democracy, which, if you've seen Islamic protest signs, is often maligned and disparaged. You lefties always think you're correct because you "feel" that you're right, when there is no evidence to back your emotional claims. Forcing anyone to pay their own money to advertise is very Obama-esque, socialist, and Marxist–but I repeat myself.

SoCalMike

Buzz off jerk.
You've been sucking on pure unadulterated propaganda for so long when you actually get taste of truth it seems like propaganda because you're totally brainwashed and brain dead.
Go worship your precious government god and enjoy the view kitty licking and French-kissing the 8th century animals intent on mass murdering us.

James

Oh, it's horowitz. The guy that said mcdonalds is the best thing that ever happened to poor people. Moron.

HertmitLion

You sure made some compelling, stimulating counter-arguments, that we can all consider.

Hint: the ability to put any adjective next to a noun does not turn opinion into fact.

SoCalMike

When lefties like James accuse others of something like being stupid or evil, they invariably project their own bias and behavior onto others.
This is what Freud referred to as "projection."

http://visionsandprinciples.blogspot.com/ InRussetShadows

Actually, the guy who wrote the article is Daniel Greenfield. I see you have not mastered reading comprehension yet. Don't worry. McDonalds is waiting for you when you matriculate.

kafir

I wouldn't watch a TV show about muslims. I wouldn't patronize their advertisers, and I tell them so. We don't hire them, we won't shop at their stores, and we avoid stores that hire them, and we inform management. It's a safety issue. Of course not all muslims are infidel hating, splodey dopes, but as an infidel, I can't tell the difference, and terrorist supporters like cair typically say muslims are ok, and don't explode, but that's a lie because sometimes they do. A show like Lassie never pointed out the dangers of rabies, and that some dogs are bad dogs. It's like that with muslims, except that I like dogs.

voice_reason

Go back under your bridge. You have no powers here.

kafir

I shop at Lowes.

Uzoozy

They has to be a name for non believers that is Kafir, how about pagans in Christanity.
You best read the scriptures which includes the same predijices you mention.
One in six of people walking on this earth a muslims.
Great religion, great people.
You like dogs , no wonder the country is going to the dogs.

ZOA

Pagans were a specific group of people in the days the Bible was written. If Muslims start referring to people in America as Aztecs, then I would see your point. The definition of the word infidel (Unbeliever – somebody who does not believe in a major religion, such as Islam) how ever is far broader and can be applied to multiple societies.

Islam is as much of a religion as Heavens Gate was. It is an ideology based on hate and murder taught by a Cult leading pedophile.

MRobs

Great Religion – which part do you like best? Is it the raping of little girls and boys or is it the honor killing of your own children or possibly stoning women to death or maybe executing homosexuals or slicing out little girls genitals, maybe its that you get to own slaves and you can use those slaves for sexual purposes. Get your head out of your a$$ and read a koran you moron. Every perversion known to man is permissable in this 7th century death cult.

JasonPappas

Did you ever notice that when the media does a show about Mormons it is always about the few remaining polygamists who break with the mainstream church? I’ve never seen a show about how “Mormons are like us.”

It’s interesting that we don’t see a show about Muslim polygamy. It’s always “Muslims are like us.” Propaganda? You bet! During WWII the movie industry made movies like Lillian Hellman’s “Song of Russia” to depict life in Russia as if it were a mid-western farm in the USA. Propaganda is often by lies of omission, not commission.

Excuse me while I go out of my way today to shop at Lowes. I'm sure I need something.

cheese_burger

From the article: "The left needs an “Other” to justify its war against American traditions and values. Muslims conveniently provide that “Other,” a role that they began to fill after September 11. Even as the left denounces the right for “Otherizing” Muslims and associating them with terrorism, it is the left that is truly guilty of it."

Begin with the Koran, and the Monster who created it, Mohammad. The book is a Study on Absolute Evil. All of the milder verses in the Koran, that Muslims and their 'Fellow Travelers' love to point to, as they spout that Islam is a 'Religion of Peace' were long ago Abrogated from the Koran, and now exist in the Koran only as a tool of deceit.

Consider all of Nature, except Muslims. Contrast how nature behaves… the trees, the animals, and all non-Muslim human beings, and then consider and compare that, with what the Koran orders, to be done.

Muslims are 'The Other'. They are different from non-Muslim human beings. They are trained to hate Absolutely, before they are old enough to reason for themselves, as thinking human beings.

Sira, Hadith and Sharia expand on, and codify the Evil in the non-abrogated Koran.

Mohammad craved sex with a six year old, and is considered the Perfect Man, to be emulated by all other men. If a Muslim male is unwilling to sexually abuse these small, helpless, innocent female creatures, then that Muslim is spitting in the face of Allah… committing blasphemy.

And so, the depraved sexual act of mufa'khathat … the raping of babies… has become an ineradicable part of Islamic behaviour.

A 'Good Muslin' is, by definition, a very, very, very Evil Human being.

An "All American Muslim"… is still a Muslim, and Islam is still all about Evil, and Hatred, and Sexual Depravity, and Misogyny, and Supremacism, and Deceit…. Oh yes… heaps and heaps and heaps of Deceit.

You can put lipstick on a Pig, and call it Marylin Monroe, but the stench is still there.

One cannot be both a Muslim and a Human being at the same time. Oh, sure they are both members of the species Homo Sapiens, but that is where the similarity ends.

Koran, Sira and Hadith are designed to take little innocent, male children and turn them into hate-filled, murdering Monsters.

And as long as the Islamic Monster Machine continues to function, it will create Monsters.

That is what it was designed to do.

Ain't nothing 'All American' about any Muslim.

http://www.imataxpayertoo.wordpress.com kathy

Well, you know how the libs are always looking to expand their voting base into new "minority" groups….Looks to me like they found a new one for them to exploit. Nothing else explains it.

Daniel Greenfield

Indeed.

nunyainct

The problem is ISLAM itself. In the 12th century the "best" Islamic minds met and ranked each hadith as to it's veracity. There have been no changes, to suggest change to any hadith or any aspect of the Qu'ran is considered blasphemy/heresy and is punishable by death. Thus, Islam has never undergone a reform like other religions. Islam does not stop there, it's built in legal system shariah law, guarantees the perpetuity of evilness since it condones pedophilia, beating stoning to death of women, hanging of homosexuals, treating all non Muslims as dhimmi, and commands the spread of Islam. The Qu'ran is the blueprint for jihad, and although TLC may have found a moderate Muslim (not sure since they now have exposed the Imam and one of the stars as CAIR HAMAS Hezbollah supporters) the moderate Muslims are slaughtered in Iran, Egypt and elsewhere around the world. Moderates are not in power, and fundamentalists consider them worse than infidels since they reject the purity of Islam. I want TLC to cover fundamentalist Islam, why don't they interview Iman, David Bowie's wife, she's a Somali Muslim whose clitoris was amputated, and over 85% of all Egyptian women are believed to have forcibly undergone that practice. TLC needs to cover the real story, the basic beliefs of Islam which make Islam incompatible with civilized society. Finding a few Muslims who reject their faith and are somewhat secularized is not the story. Goes to show you, TLC as a secularized outfit thinks everyone else is as indifferent to religion and Islam is benign. Clueless people at TLC, that's all I can say.

LindaRivera

California State Senator Ted Lieu threatened boycotts and “legislative remedies” if Lowe’s doesn’t pay to advertise on the Muslim show.

A CA State Senator wants to use government power to force non-Muslim Lowe's to FINANCE a boring, Muslim religion propaganda program?
What a terrifying abuse of power.

Instead of government representatives representing the People, they are representing totalitarian Islam.

Mr. Lieu, stop trying to make infidel non-Muslims pay jizya to Muslims!
Mr. Lieu, in America, we have separation of church and state. In this case, separation of mosque and state. Stop trying to impose Islamic sharia law in America! Stop trying to DESTROY our freedom. Americans highly cherish freedom and human rights!

Fred Dawes

a great red Chinese guy, a total pig of the third world at work, he is also a lover of the one world and big bankers. Ted Lieu is not his real name.

crypticguise

Americans should advise any sponsor of this or other Islamic Propaganda Entertainment that they will not purchase their goods or services.

betwyan

As a life-long resident of Dearbornistan, Michgian, I can tell you all the problem is simple. The problem is since the 1990's, we've seen higher and higher levels of immigration into our country and unfortuneately, a high number of Muslims included. The more muslims that settle in one ares, the more trouble you will have. Mosques will be built, Islamic "learning centers", madrasses and Sharia Law will begin to creep into your school system and city/civic life. The only way to prevent it is to limit Islamic immigration. Only way.

Fred Dawes

90.000 each 30 days from third world muslim states, bush started it and obama has made it move. 9-11 is a real inside job, see the movie The Road. it is the future of this nation.

tedder

Is it me or does it seem like since September 11th the number of Islamics in this country has skyrocketed? Anybody know where to find immigration numbers regarding this?

Most of these people act like they just got here and are suffering big-time culture shock, namely that the USA is not a religion friendly country.

Daniel Greenfield

The INS keeps number by country of origin per year

Ghostwriter

Let's be honest here. "All-American Muslim" is a terrible show and deserves to be cancelled. I saw a few episodes. I didn't like it. I watched better stuff,like "Iron Chef America." It's far more entertaining than this drivel.

Daniel Greenfield

Time for Iron Halal Chef

Western Spirit

I'm not a Catholic, but I'm a Christian, and I object to your characterization of the Catholic Church.

All the Catholic Church needs to do is allow its priests to marry and the perverts would need to find another nest to stain and dishonor.

http://visionsandprinciples.blogspot.com/ InRussetShadows

That, and do something about the pink mafia.

awake & aware

Im sorry but married priest have nothing to do with this problem. Most of the allegations have to do with adult men & teenaged boys. It has been inaccurately called pedophilia by the media & it has stuck. There have been very few cases of prepubescent children. Even if there were only cases of true pedophilia, how would married priests cure this problem? By definition, pedophiles are attracted to prepubescent children, they may marry adults to get closer to their children but are not attracted to the adult body for sexual purposes.
This is also a problem in churches that allow for married clergy. It happens in other Christian denominations, synagogues, mosques, Orthodox, mormons etc. It happens more often in those than Catholic but we only hear about the Catholic. It happens most often in homes & also schools, but we only hear about the often long dead priest. Married priest will not make this problem go away & portraying one religion as seemingly the only place this happens only perpetuates the myth.

Indioviejo

This weeks episode of Homeland convinced me that the producers and writers of this show are interested in presenting Muslims with a legitimate grievance against the CIA and our Government officials as operating beyond the pale. As it is a more sophisticated show than All-American Muslim, its Taqiyya is more insidious.

Daniel Greenfield

24 went the same way.

Indioviejo

It did and I stopped watching as soon as I thought it went bad. Lots of people saw the change. We saw the MSM manipulation and brainwashing of Americans a long time ago, but there was no alternative. Now there is the net and sites like FPM. It's a blessing to have an alternative source of info.

Papadakis

You can always spot the "progressives" here by their emotional insecurity coupled with an inability to engage in fact-based argumentation. Oh, and then there's the whole 'IQ of a kitchen sponge' thing.

This article calls for a "Is Obama an Islamophobe?" article based on his lack of support for the show. After that, it calls for a "Why Is the Islamic grievance industry giving Obama a pass to be an Islamophobe?" Followed by "How credible is the Islamic grievance industry, really? If, in fact it's true, that they indirectly support Islamophobia by giving Obama a pass. How credible are their rampant accusations of Islamophobia in light of this double standard?"

Daniel Greenfield

Good point.

Zarina

Wow, the level of ignorance in these comment are just mind blowing. Here is a thought, why don't you pick a Qur'an and actually *READ it before you form your opinion instead of drinking in all the lies the media feeds you. Just a thought.

* When I say read, I mean cover to cover not just snippets you find on Islam-hating websites.

Daniel Greenfield

Reading a Koran isn't the positive advertisement for Islam that you imagine it to be.

JoJoJams

I've read it. Which is why I've looked around and found sites like this – that agree with what I've read, not to mention what all the "terrorists" (read:informed, pious muslims) themselves say and quote. Zarina…..If you are islamic, it's YOU who need to read the quran fully. I don't care the "holy" spin muslims put on it, facts are, mad mo robbed/raided caravans, ordered beheadings, ordered a poetess killed for mocking him, married a 6 year old and consummated that marriage when she was 9, approved of slavery, gave the command requiring 4 witnesses to rape (to save Aisha from some shame…., but which now makes rape victims in islam doubley raped), and on and on….. Again, no matter your "holy" spin about these acts, YOU KNOW HE DID THESE THINGS!!!! And still you follow this "prophet". Shame on you for eating up the ignorance!!

Bashy Quraishy

Here is a decent article by an American.
Regards
Bashy
————
All American Muslims, and Christians
by Dr. Natana J. DeLong-Bas
23 December 2011

Boston, Massachusetts – Over the weekend, protestors gathered at Lowe’s Home Improvement stores, criticising the US retail chain’s recent decision to pull its advertisements from a show on the television station TLC, “All-American Muslim”. Lowe’s decision came following complaints by the Florida Family Association – a conservative evangelical Christian group that aims to “educate people on what they can do to defend, protect and promote traditional, biblical values” – that the show was “propaganda”. The group also said “that [it] riskily hides the Islamic agenda’s clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values.”

“All-American Muslim” is a reality television show, portraying five Muslim Arab American families in Dearborn, Michigan. The purpose of the program is to provide viewers with a window into what life is like for Muslims of Arab descent living in the United States today. Because it shows real life situations, the show sometimes includes incidents of discrimination and how the families choose to handle it.

As a theology professor focusing on both Islam and Christianity, I am often asked to comment on faith-related issues. My investigation into the episodes and blogs about the show found these families engaged in planning weddings and getting married, facing the challenges of raising a family, recognising that being a dad means putting the welfare and needs of your children ahead of your own, coaching high school football and reflecting on motherhood as God’s greatest gift.

I personally found none of this to be offensive, dangerous or propagandistic. In fact, I was under the impression that this focus on the family was supposed to be the heart of traditional American liberties and values.

So what is the problem?

The problem seems to be ignorance about who Muslims are and what they believe. Despite efforts since 9/11 to educate the American public about Islam and Muslims, there remains a lack of accurate information and understanding that sadly often leads to deeply felt fear, hatred, prejudice, bigotry and ultimately, discrimination.

Remaining silent in the face of prejudice and hatred means becoming complicit with those forces. Just as we demand that Muslims speak out against those committing acts of terrorism and extremism in the name of Islam, so Christians must also speak out against those preaching hatred, bigotry and ignorance in the name of Christianity.

As an American, I believe that we have an obligation to uphold the responsibilities that come with the freedom of speech – responsibility to ensure that our words are not used to harm others, whether physically or emotionally; responsibility to use our words to convey accurate information rather than to perpetuate negative stereotypes; and responsibility to use our words to build, rather than tear down, communities and each other.

As a Christian, particularly in light of the coming Christmas season, I want to use my free speech to clarify that Muslims and Christians believe in many of the same values – the centrality of family, concern for social justice and the importance of faith in God. Although Muslims and Christians do not agree on whether Jesus is God’s Son, Muslims nevertheless hold Jesus in high esteem as one of God’s prophets and messengers who brought to humanity the gift of God’s revelation through the Gospels.

The Qur’an teaches that Jesus is “a word from God” (3:45) and “a spirit from God” (4:171), conceived and born of the Virgin Mary (3:47 and 19:16-23), who has been taught “the Scripture and wisdom, and the Torah and the Gospel” by God (3:48). The Qur’an also reminds us that Jesus comes to “heal him who was born blind and the leper,” to “raise the dead” (3:49 and 5:110) and to “confirm that which was before [him] of the Torah” (3: 50). These teachings parallel much of what Christians believe about Jesus, offering us common ground as we enter into the Christmas season – a season of hope, fellowship and, most of all, peace on earth.

Our common faith, whether Muslim or Christian, commands us to love God and each other. It is my prayer that more Christians and Muslims will use this latest incident to reach out to each other and recognise how much we share in common through the power of that love, rather than allowing fear to continue to divide and conquer us.

###

* Dr. Natana J. DeLong-Bas is Editor-in-Chief of The [Oxford] Encyclopedia of Islam and Women and author of Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad. She teaches comparative theology at Boston College. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

so lowe's is hated for not allowing rape and murder by muslims inside or in the parking lot?

Jack_Fate

The writer is dead on. The left needs victims and since 9/11 that is the role they have played. Instead of being victims to religious murdering thugs who they will not confront, they should rise up and show us all the religion of peace is exactly what it claims to be and put an end to terrorism. When they do it, then I'll respect Islam. Not until.

Bitchplease

Damn Towlheads…. .

Fred Dawes

not towlhead evil at work

Fred Dawes

The muslims are mad for one reason the law of the land will not allow for beheading at this time but some day it will, This nation is doomed to mass murder by people who have no right to live in this nation.